RENAMED
Who am I? Have you ever wondered that? The answer to that question resolves just about everything; or at least establishes the viewpoint from which we form our perspective on all of life.
Today, more than any other time, people want to contextualize what they personally identify with. We want to know what defines us. We want to clearly understand who we are.
We name ourselves. We label ourselves. We are named and labeled by those around us. Good or bad, those names start to form our identity. As Christians, we know that Christ also names us – victorious, blessed, healed and whole overcomers.
In bible times names carried such weight in people’s lives. Then God would rename people. Jesus also renamed people. The giving or taking of new names was often when a critical turning point in a person’s life had been reached. Names were a kind of prophetic declaration over the rest of a person’s life.
Names bring identity.
So as I’ve been thinking about the power of a name my attention was drawn to the life of Saul who became Paul.
I started to ask questions like, “How did Saul become Paul?”
“How? When? Why did Saul the Pharisee, become Paul the liberated evangelist?”
In relation to my own life,
"How? Why? When do I discover what God has called me?
I was quite surprised when I realised my assumptions about Saul’s name change were wrong.
I always assumed that it was Jesus who changed Saul’s name to Paul when He confronted him at the Damascus Road encounter we read about in Acts 9.
And so as I was studying into Saul’s story I became disappointed when I realized that my assumptions were totally wrong. Saul’s name didn’t change at conversion, and when it did change (4 chapters later in chapter 13) it wasn’t God who changed it.
Between Acts 9 (Saul’s conversion) and Acts 13 (when he starts being referred to as Paul) Saul continues to be referred to by his old name. Some say that these four chapters could have been as long as a few years.
So for a bunch of time Saul is ministering, preaching, travelling and doing the do for the Cause of Christ, still identifying with an old name.
Mark Twain put it this way,
“The two most important days of your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”
As Christians our identity is found in two life-altering events – the day we’re born again and the day we find out why.
We all have a Damascus Road experience.
We’re on a mission. Self-seeking mission.
Wonderfully justified and convincingly defended, as was Saul’s.
But really we’re on the road to self-destruction and or the destruction of those in our influence.
Then unexpectedly, suddenly, without warning, we are face to face with the lover of our soul, Jesus.
Whether in the midst of tragedy, or not, Christ intercepts our paths and we see Him for the first time in the beauty of who He really is.
He reaches out to us. As though completely pardoning our recent and not so recent errors, He speaks of our future and our purpose in him.
He starts to tell us the true story of who we were always intended to be.
The breathtaking silence in you is filled by His voice as He begins to tell the story of your life; as He tells you who He is and who you are in Him.
This encounter unveils the narrative of our lives.
Saul shared about his Damascus Road encounter often, with all types of people – commoners and kings alike. Because his memory of Jesus remained as vivid as the day it happened, he stayed true to his calling.
Do you remember?
Are you still excited about your conversion?
Do you remember the revelation that flooded your heart that moment you finally saw Him and responded to Him?
I remember as an 18 year old when He met me in my pit, supernaturally healed my body and expelled my shame. I remember. And because I remember I have no doubt believing for your healing. I have no hesitation in assuring you that shame is not your portion no matter what has happened in your past. Because I remember, I am fully persuaded that His Grace is richer than your wildest dreams and there is no devil in hell that can stand between you and Jesus if you will only look up.
Do you remember the relief and freedom of that moment?
When was the last time you shared your salvation experience with someone?
Someone is longing to know what you know about who they truly are!
For a few years after his conversion Saul preached Jesus like a zealot, causing a stir everywhere he went and being chased or smuggled out of towns.
Then one day I believe he witnessed something that he could not ignore, and that would change him forever.
In Acts 13, Holy Spirit instructed the church leaders to commission Saul and Barnabas for the “special work” the Lord had called them to do. Scholars interpret this “special work” as a specific commission to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles.
Who were the Gentiles? You and I – anyone who wasn’t born a Jew. They were considered unclean and traditionally unacceptable to God.
So here is Saul (once a Jewish Pharisee) the purest, most educated and upright of Jews, commissioned by God to minister to those who he may have once considered ‘beneath him’, and to bring a new message of Grace to them.
He and Barnabas were sent on their way and in their very first ministry experience in this new mission they meet a governor and his associate who was actually a fellow Jew but also a sorcerer, trying to prevent the governor from receiving Christ.
Do you know when Saul changed his own name to Paul?
When he looked in the face of a non-Jew in need of Christ, who was being tricked out of salvation.
In that moment, he saw a soul in need of Jesus and two Jewish respectables on either side of him. Up until this point Saul had clung to the profile and status of his past life. He loved God, he had encountered the presence of Jesus and Holy Spirit’s baptism, but he was still holding back a part of his own life – his security.
By the prompting of the Holy Spirit I believe Saul realised that masquerading around behind titles and status was, not only evil, but also a stumbling block to another person’s faith.
In one foul swoop Saul relinquished his status and ushered in the Holy Spirit’s power to take authority over a situation. Immediately after this and from that point onwards he is referred to as Paul.
At birth, his parents had given him two names.
Saul was his Jewish name – possibly in remembrance of King Saul.
As Roman citizens, his parents also gave him a second name, Paul. This was his Roman (Gentile) name.
“I have become all things to all men that I might by all means save some.” – Paul (1 Corinthians 9: 23)
His name Saul encapsulated his status, his heritage, his roots and everything of importance in that day. All he treasured and that had been instilled in him from birth was wrapped up in the name Saul. He carried it with pride.
Until he came to a place where he realized what the call of God actually required of him. Changing his name was a conscious surrender.
Some of us are holding so tightly to our conditions, expectations and preconceived ideas of what we think this Christian life should be, not realizing that our full potential lies in the balance.
Some of us find our identity in our past, in our position, in our status, in security.
SET YOUR HEART TO WORSHIP THE LORD OF YOUR BELIEFS NOT YOUR BELIEFS THEMSELVES.
Avoid the dogmatic approach to faith.
Ideas are not as precious as people and if we’re not careful methods, ideas, concepts, and beliefs can quickly become idols.
Complete surrender is the most powerful position to function from
Surrender is more than purpose
Surrender is more than activity
Surrender is more than conviction
What we do is not who we are
Our doing comes out of who we are
And who we are is rooted in Christ
You will never know the fullness of your identity in Christ until you give yourself completely in surrender to Him.
Salvation and surrender – the two moments that reveal who we already, and most truly, are in Christ.
